numbered such patriots as Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren,
John Adams, Thomas Gushing, Samuel Cooper, etc. The paper
was a good reporter of such important events as the Stamp Act,
the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, etc.
The account of the Tea Party, from The Boston Gazette, is reproduced to show the improvement in the handling of news since the days of the Colonial Period :
On Tuesday last the body of the people of this and all the adjacent towns, and others from the distance of twenty miles, assembled at the Old South Meeting-house, to inquire the reason of the delay in send- ing the ship Dartmouth, with the East-India Tea, back to London; and having found that the owner had not taken the necessary steps for that purpose, they enjoined him at his peril to demand of the collec- tor of the customs a clearance of the ship, and appointed a committee of ten to see it performed: after which they adjourned to the Thursday following, ten o'clock. They then met, and being informed by Mr. Rotch, that a clearance was refused him, they enjoined him imme- diately to enter a protest and apply to the Governor for a passport by the castle, and adjourned again till three o'clock for the same day. At which time they again met, and after waiting till near sunset, Mr. Rotch came in and informed them that he had accordingly entered his pro- test and waited on the Governor for a pass, but his excellency told him he could not consistent with his duty grant it until his vessel was quali- fied. The people finding all their efforts to preserve the property of the East-India Company and return it safely to London frustrated by the tea consignees, the collector of the customs, and the Governor of the Province, DISSOLVED their meeting. But, BEHOLD what fol- lowed! A number of brave and resolute men, determined to do all in their power to save their country from the ruin which their enemies had plotted, in less than four hours, emptied every chest of tea overboard, the three ships commanded by Captains Hull, Bruce, and Coffin, amounting to 342 chests, into the Sea!! without the least damage done to the ships or any other property. The masters and owners are well pleased that their ships are thus cleared; and the people are almost universally congratulating each other on this happy event.
REVERE, ENGRAVER OF CUTS
When the four victims of the Boston Massacre of 1770 were buried, The Boston Gazette, in its issue for March 12, 1770, illus- trated its account of the event with cuts of four coffins. Evi- dently there must have been some one else who was expected to die, for Paul Revere, the leading Boston engraver, but better
